


In the Name of the King

by giratinazapdos



Category: One Piece
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, How Do I Tag, M/M, kingdom au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:15:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22364728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giratinazapdos/pseuds/giratinazapdos
Summary: The king reins in tyranny and the prince wants nothing more than to stop him from harming the country even more. The knight is trying to figure out what he believes anymore. When the knight takes the prince out of the castle for the first time, all hell breaks loose and the time for change quickly approaches. Join these two in their unexpected adventures throughout the kingdom to bring change to the tyranny that has swallowed the land.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy/Roronoa Zoro
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there, this is my first fanfic so it's probably not the best out there. This originally started as a small joke between a few friends and me before I made it into an actual thing, so please enjoy.

The East Kingdom, one of the four Kingdoms in the continent of the Grand Line. The center of which is run by a single man who’s queen is no more and bares no heir to the throne. In the capital the king is known as a saint, but to some within the castle and to those who lived outside the capital saw him as a tyrunt who needed to be taken down.

Zoro dreamed of leaving the castle to go and fight in battle. Alas this wasn’t a thing that royalty did in this kingdom. He’s heard of other kingdoms that send out their kings, queens, princes and princesses to fight in wars with other nations. Oh how he desperately wanted that to be what his kingdom did.

His father was a lazy man, who would much rather spend his time gloating about his wealth and power than actually do anything to help the citizens. Zoro wanted to change that, but at the rate things were going there was no way he would be named King. His father was seeking a new heir to the throne, one that would continue running things the way they were now. Just so he could stay in a place of power and freedom.

Zoro tried going around and talking to all of the aides in the castle and create a solid relationship with them. Finding them wasn’t always easy, but he still went around and held small chats with them. He talked with Usopp the most, because he was usually in the same place for days on end, painting the murals.

Usopp talked about a lot of things, usually his paints or some adventure he apparently went on. Zoro knows that he hasn’t gone on any, but also knows that he wants too very badly. But sometimes, he’ll blab on and on about the head of the royal guard. The first time Usopp mentioned him, Zoro was confused. He thought that he had already met everyone in the castle.

Usopp then explained to him that Luffy was rarely in the castle or the town, because of how many times he gets sent out on missions. So when he did return, all of his friends in the castle went to a tavern somewhere in town to celebrate before his next mission. Zoro was mystified, he wanted to know more about what was outside the walls of the city but he was confined to staying inside the castle. He wanted to meet Luffy and learn more about the outside and hopefully gain his trust and friendship. He only hoped that his father didn’t spread any false rumors about him to make the guardsman or the public think ill of him.

Zoro kept doing what he normally did, sleep, eat, train, and talk to the aides of the castle. Though he started searching much harder for the fabled captain of the guard. He could never seem to find him on his walks through the castle. He asked whoever he saw about Luffy, they always gave him stories of the things he’s done to save the kingdom but never gave Zoro any information on his personality or where he might be located at the moment.

He would’ve sent for someone to have Luffy come and meet with him, if he had the power to do so and if he had wanted to do that in the first place. Zoro’s father had taken away nearly all of his power in the kingdom, just so he could have all say in what goes. Zoro’s mother wasn’t around anymore, which also helped enable his horrid father to do such things. Zoro often wondered if his mother really did get terminally ill or if that was just a cover up. That didn’t matter anymore though, at least not yet, Zoro had things he needed to do before he could overthrow his father and succeed him.

Zoro continued his search for Luffy, but he knew that Luffy rarely set foot in the castle. It made the search that much more difficult for him, because of his predicament with his father and the castle. He was ready to give up on his entire search when a man dawned in armor, besides a helmet, walked past him. He’d never seen the guy before. Was that the guy he’s been looking for? Why was he here now and not any other time? He wasn’t going to let his opportunity to talk to someone from outside the castle escape him even if it wasn’t the guy.

The knight was donned in dark red armor, his helmet covering every part of his head except for his face, and a long black feather strode down and behind the helmet. His armor was detailed with little emblems that probably weren’t there previously, like a small strawhat at the top and center of his chestplate and a skull and crossbones bearing the same strawhat on either shoulder. The only emblem that was there since the beginning was a head, one half a lion and the other half a ram, on the front of the chestplate. All of these emblems and the armor outline were yellow in color, making them stand out on the deep red of the armor. Strapped to his back was a large halberd. It showed signs of being used regularly, but oddly enough the blade wasn’t in that bad of a condition unlike the end of it. The bottom was splintering and beginning to come undone, the only thing keeping it together was the metal bindings wrapped around the handle piece. The knights following closely behind the red knight came nowhere near the amount of authority he gave off.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in the castle before, may I inquire as to why you’re in the castle?” Zoro stated, hoping to maybe start a conversation with the young knight.

“I have been summoned by His Majesty the King, to discuss matters that don’t concern you.” the knight stated, beginning to walk down the corridor once more, “now I need to get going.”

“Wait! Can you at the very least tell me your name? I’m Zoro!”

The knight looked over his shoulder at the prince. “The name’s Luffy, now please, I must get to my audience with the King.” With that being said, Luffy disappeared down the corridor leaving the prince alone.

“Goodbye,” Zoro said long after the knight left. He was confused as to why Luffy was in such a big rush, but was happy to have finally met the captain of the royal guard.

Zoro wasn’t allowed into the throne room during these audiences, so he left for his room because he had nothing better to do. On his way to his room he couldn’t help but wonder why Luffy didn’t regard him as ‘Your Highness’ like everyone else in the castle did. Was he just like that, only calling someone by their title if he deemed them worthy of it? Or did he not know that he was the prince of the kingdom? And if that’s the case, how did he not know? Did anyone else outside of the castle know about him? Zoro shook these thoughts from his head and decided that he needed to lay down for a bit, to calm himself down.

The last thought he had before drifting off to sleep was on what the people of the kingdom thought of him, if they even knew he existed at all.


	2. Chapter 2

Luffy continued down the hall after leaving the well dressed man behind. He figured that he was just an aide to the castle, so he pushed his way past him. The castle didn’t change much from the last time he was there. Paintings and statues lined the walls, all depicting the old kings, queens and their children. The corridor wasn’t long enough to contain all of the old rulers of course, so the paintings and statues lined other walls in the castle as well. But at the end of this hall was the painting of the current King Moria and his deceased wife the Queen, no sign of the prince anywhere on the painting. Because of this and other reasons, Luffy and a lot of the citizens didn’t know that they even had a prince, much less an heir to the throne. The ones who did know of Zoro only knew lies and rumors spread by an unknown person.

Luffy pushed open the doors to the throne room, his fellow guards following close behind, and entered the room. He moved to stand in front of the king, getting down on one knee and putting one fist to the floor while the other was draped over his other leg, before bowing his head. 

“Your Majesty has sent for me?”

“You may rise. You’ve kept me waiting for some time now, Luffy the Red Lion.” the King, Moria, glared down at Luffy, elbow resting on the arm of the throne with his cheek resting against his fist. The other hand resting on the other arm of the throne, fingers tapping against it.

Luffy rose from his position on the ground. “I’m sorry Your Majesty, it took longer to get back into the city than what I had originally thought and I was stopped by a man named Zoro on my way to the throne room.”

“Zoro? That boy continues to get in the way.” Moria mumbled, “Listen to me Red Lion, you must never talk to that man. He’s very sick in the head and must be kept in the castle at all times so he doesn’t throw the general public into uproar or terror.”

“Who exactly is this man, if I may inquire? And why must he stay in the castle and not a hospital or away from the capital?”

“He is my son, sending him away from the castle would be putting the royal line in danger and I can’t have that, until I find someone fit to rule in his stead because of his illnesses and mental state.”

“I understand, now why has His Majesty summoned me?”

“Ah, yes, that. There have been reports of an army of rebels gathering in the East, I would like for you to take care of them before anything comes of their rebellion. You’ll set out in a few days.”

“Of course, sire. I’ll take care of it.”

Luffy bowed once more before leaving the throne room. He had a few days to prepare for the mission ahead of him, which was nice because he barely got to be at home anymore. As he was walking down the corridor questions began forming in his head. ‘Why didn’t the king tell anybody about the prince? Even if he has an illness the kingdom has the right to know about the royal family. Is there something bigger going on here?’ Continuing on his trek out of the castle, Luffy was wracking his brain for any possible answers to his questions. He figured he needed to talk to someone about what’s really going on and why something of such importance was completely overlooked.

Going into town, Luffy went to his favorite tavern to talk to some old friends of his. Sanji, the tavern owner, allowed them all in after closing hours to celebrate the knights return. Nami, Franky, Sanji and Luffy were all talking inside waiting for their final friend to join them. After waiting for about thirty minutes the door to the tavern opened and in popped the head of the court painter. He scurried in after spotting his friends and making sure no one was around to follow him in. Usopp took the remaining seat and plopped himself down.

“About time you showed up,” the thief, Nami spoke up first.

“Yeah, sorry it took a lot longer to get done today than I had originally thought.” Usopp apologized.

“Well you’re here now, so that’s all that matters,” Sanji broke in, bringing him a glass of ale.

“Now that you’re here, we can super get started on this game,” the blacksmith who made Luffy’s armor, Franky broke in.

“Oh, cool! What are we playing?” Usopp asked, eyeing the assortment of cards and dice on the table.

“We’re making a new game today, called The 4 Nations. Hope you’ve got some money on you, cause we’re gambling” Nami stated.

“Hmmm, I don’t really like these gambling games of yours, you always cheat.” Usopp muttered.

“Oh who cares! Are you going to be playing or not?” Nami chided.

“Ugh, fine! I’ll play. I’m throwing in 5 silver.” Usopped sighed.

“Now we can super get started!” Franky, posing, his arms above his head and off to the side.

“Shishishi, yeah! Oh! Hey Usopp, do you know anything about the prince? Is he really as bad as the king says he is?” Luffy questioned almost immediately, he was far too curious and the questions had been swarming around his mind all day.

Far away from the capital, over to the East, gathered a group of citizens and soldiers. The citizens were all poverty stricken farmers and merchants, all of which were banned from entering the capital for this reason. The only people who had it good in the kingdom were the ones who lived in the capital, Shimotsuki. Of course the people of Shimotsuki didn’t know of this. The people were getting fed up with the way they’re being treated, so they were beginning to rise with the promise of fairness and freedom by the King of the kingdom to the north.

The soldiers that were there were a mixture of the north’s knights and some of the east’s very own. The eastern knights were tired of seeing their families threatened and hurt even under the roofs of Shimotsuki. They had heard the stories of the north’s king being a very powerful man, who would fight with his knights on the battlefield and care to his people. Even though he appeared to be a cold hearted person and not care about anyone.

The rebel forces began setting up their camp, moving food and supplies around. They began strategizing what they were going to do in order to take the kingdom. The Captain of the north knights was speaking to the Captain of the east knights, trying to come up with a way to take out the Red Lion.


	3. Chapter 3

Back at the castle Zoro had woken up from his nap. He got up and walked over to the window, looking out of it. It was already night, he had fallen asleep at noon. He didn’t mind, actually he was happy that it was this late. It meant that he was able to sneak around the castle and find things to use against his father.

Zoro left his window’s side and moved to open the door to his chambers. He opened it slowly so he didn’t wake the guards positioned next to it. He poked his head out before fully emerging into the hallway and closing the door behind him. He looked over at the two lazy guards before disappearing into the darkness of the castle.

The guards that were positioned at his door were the worst that his father could find, and he made sure of it. The only reason why the king even positioned them there was because he had to. He didn’t want his ‘useless’ son to be able to take the throne if something were to happen in the castle, so he made sure that his protection couldn’t be trusted.

Zoro walked down to the training grounds and pick locked the door to the weaponry. He made his way to the swords and grabbed the one he always used when he practiced. He knew that if he wanted to be protected and live long enough to take the throne from his father, he had to train to protect himself. And if he wanted to run the kingdom like he wanted, then he’d have to get stronger to protect the people too.

He trained for hours on end, until his muscles screamed for a break. He stopped after he felt like he was going to collapse. He couldn’t afford to pass out here and get caught. After catching his breath, he looked up to the sky to determine how much time had passed and what he had left. Four hours. That was enough time to go and do some snooping around.

“Prince? We have a prince?” Franky questioned, “Why haven’t I ever heard of him?”

“Yeah, though I heard that the guy was a major ass, who’s unfit to rule so King Moria doesn’t want him to lead the country astray.” Sanji answered.

“Why would you be asking about a guy like that, Luffy?” Nami responded.

Luffy didn’t listen to them though, he was solely focused on what Usopp had to say to this matter. He needed to hear it from someone who worked in the castle, who saw the prince regularly.

“None of the things the king has told you is true.” Usopp stated, rather bluntly. That got everyone to look at him, giving him a questioning look.

“Why would the king lie about something like that? I don’t see the point.” Sanji retorted.

“There is a reason behind the king saying those things about his highness Zoro. It’s because he doesn’t want the prince to bring about the changes that would favor the people.” Usopp started explaining.

Usopp continued explaining what’s been going on between the king and prince. Throughout the explanation someone would cut in to question Usopp on something, to which Usopp would explain in greater detail to the best of his ability and knowledge. He only knew what Zoro had told him, what the other aides told him, and what he overheard after all.

Luffy said nothing throughout the entire explanation, opting to listen to everything Usopp had to say on the matter. If anything the explanation only served to confuse him more. He knew that things were bad in the kingdom outside the capital, but he always figured that they were out of anybody’s control. But to know that this is all the king’s doing? The king’s never lied to him before, right? Luffy didn’t know who to believe or what was going on anymore. Was he even serving the right man?

“I know my word probably isn’t good for much, but please Luffy, go and talk to his highness Zoro.” Usopp pleaded. “And please take him outside of the castle, he needs to know what the world’s like and what state the kingdom’s in.”

“...Yeah, I’ll go and talk to him. I have some questions for him.” Luffy finally said after his long bout of silence, “The only way I’ll take him out of the castle is if I like him enough, though.”

“Luffy! You can’t be serious! It’s a high crime to take royalty out of the castle without the will of the king or someone in power!” Nami screeched.

“I haven’t decided if I’m taking him out of the castle yet…” Luffy pouted.


	4. Chapter 4

Zoro made his way through the castle, careful not to make too much noise in the darkness. He couldn’t use a candle out of fear of getting caught, but he knew his way throughout the castle, it was the only thing he ever knew after all. He tried to not look for lights, because he knew that by the time he saw them it would be too late. He’s gotten caught in the past for doing this, but that was when he was still small. He learned from those mistakes since then, and began learning how to tell where people were by their sounds. He was swift in his movements, listening closely in the deafening blackness for the sounds of armor clinking, or people talking in hushed whispers. When he caught the sounds of two guards coming down one of the connecting hallways, he moved as quickly and quietly as possible and hid behind one of the multiple statues.

The guards started walking Zoro’s direction, coming from where Zoro wanted to go. Zoro was not prepared for this. Maneuvering around this statue was going to be hard work, and even harder work to not be seen or heard. Zoro waited for the guards to get halfway past the statue to start moving, maneuvering and contorting his body to get around the narrow space in between the wall and avoiding the bumps of the statue. He froze from time to time when the guards stopped talking to look around, getting as small as possible or positioning himself so he was completely behind the statue.

When the guards were on the other side of the statue, Zoro moved out from behind the statue and dashed for the next. Hiding the moment he got there. He listened closely to the footsteps of the guards and when they faded away, he got up and continued down his path. He opened the door to his target location, and slipped inside.

‘No guards it seems, good’ Zoro thought, as he made his way to the royal archives and began searching for something he could use against his father.

He spent two hours searching for something, anything, to use against that man, but came up with nothing. He dragged a hand over his face and looked around him. Shelves upon shelves of archives lined the walls, all dating back to the first king of the East. Zoro had already looked through all of the archives from his father’s rule, expecting, hoping for there to be something for him to use. But there was nothing, it was almost like any and all documentations that would paint the current king in a bad light were nonexistent.

Zoro gave up after a while, feeling his eyes start to grow heavy from the long, grueling hours of staring at document after document in the dull, faint light of the candle next to him. Carefully folding each document again, Zoro made sure to put them in the correct spots so no one would be suspicious.

After making sure all of that was done, Zoro blew out his candle and slowly started making his way back to his room, being mindful of the guards around the area. Once he got back to his room, he collapsed on his bed and promptly fell asleep, thinking about a plan for tomorrow.

Luffy woke up in a soft, hay bed. It was odd, he wasn’t at all used to sleeping comfortably. He got used to the hard ground of the base camps he and his soldiers set up on their long journeys. He knew he could stay in bed all day if it meant being this comfy, but he had things to take care of. Such as the rebel force and this whole mystery of the prince.

He didn’t bother putting on his armor, since he wasn’t planning on setting out today. Besides, he needed to get his weapon fixed, again. So he was going to bother Franky about it later that night. He sighed before leaving his so called ‘home’, it didn’t feel much like a home anymore. Both of his brothers were stationed at two different fortresses and never had time to come back to the house, and he was almost always on the battlefield, taking care of the border or other odd things that really shouldn’t have required his help.

Luffy walked through the alleyways, trying to avoid as many people as he could. He didn’t have time to sit and talk to everyone who adored him, answer questions, or listen to their rants and ramblings. He needed to get to the prince so he could get answers.

Getting into the castle was easy, since all of the guards knew him. The hard part was finding the prince’s room. He figured that asking about it would raise suspicions, especially from the king and he’d end up getting sent out immediately. He didn’t want that, he wanted one more day of rest!

He wandered around the castle, for a few hours looking at everything he was able to. It wasn’t often he got to visit the castle, and he’s never actually looked around it before, until he finally came across the prince’s quarters.

The guards stationed there looked to be incompetent at best. Not at all someone you’d place at the doors of a member of the royal family’s room. Luffy walked up to them, expecting them to cross their spears over the door, forming a barricade of some sort. But they didn’t even try to block him from entering the room, much to his confusion.

They just stood there, staring straight ahead, only giving Luffy a side glance. Luffy wasn’t particularly happy about this, because protecting the royal family should’ve been a high honor to these knights. Why weren’t they treating it like that?

Luffy walked up to them and motioned for them to look at him. Once he caught their attention, he made himself sound as professional as possible. “You two have been relieved of your duties, guarding the prince. New retainers will be selected at a later date, in the meantime, I will be attending to his highness, unless stated otherwise.” Luffy didn’t exactly tell the truth, but he did say what was on his mind. Even if the prince is as bad as King Moria said he is, he still deserves the proper protection.

“O-of course sir! We can finally do what we want again! Watching his highness is a huge hassle.”

With that being said, the two guards left. Luffy watched them go, upset with the way they acted. Unfortunately Luffy wasn’t a castle guard, so he wasn’t able to dismiss those two from the knight squadron itself. With a huff he turned towards the door and knocked, awaiting the prince’s answer.

Zoro woke up to the sound of people talking outside his door. He couldn’t quite make out the voices, but he figured it was just another guard getting a report from the two stationed at his door. Just when he was about to fall back to sleep, he heard a knocking on his door. That made him jump, he wasn’t expecting that. Was he seen last night or was this just a wake up call? He didn’t know but he couldn’t leave his door unanswered, so he got up and made his way to the door.

When he opened it, he expected to see an escort or someone with a summons notice. He didn’t at all expect to see a single man, not even dressed in armor, standing at his door. “Um… May I help you?”

“I’ve come to request an audience with his highness Zoro.”

“A what? With me? I’ve never exactly done this before, but come in I guess.”

Luffy gave a small smile at that, glad that he was able to get an audience with him. He didn’t sound like someone who would do anything the king said he did, but that was still too early to decide. The prince did look like he had just rolled out of bed after all.

Luffy kneeled before the prince after they entered the room and the door was closed. He heard light shuffling coming from the other. “You don’t have to do that you know, it’s not like I’m anybody that important.”

Luffy was confused. ‘Not important? What is he saying? He’s the prince of course he’s important!’ He rose to his feet slowly, watching for the prince’s reaction to this. When there was none, he relaxed a bit, until a near silent snort was heard from the other.

“What’s with that look? Is it because I’m not following up on your expectations? Sigh. Well I can’t say I blame you, I must seem like a very lousy prince to the citizens for never appearing to them. I don’t know what my father’s told you about me or if he talked about me at all, so if you’ve come to ask about that, please leave.”

Zoro sounded extremely exhausted, just from mentioning that topic. It was almost like he’s been asked about it multiple times before and each time garnered the same results. Luffy still wanted to know about the man before him though, this one conversation would also be the deciding factor to sneaking the prince out of the castle or not.

“I heard from Usopp, but I needed to hear it from you, as well. I want to know what kind of man you are and if the king is truly as just as he says, before I make my decision.”


End file.
